What are the major differences between WAP implementations in Europe and WAP and i-mode in Japan?
WAP implementations in Europe as of November 2000 were circuit switched (users needed to dial-up in order to connect), whereas i-mode is packet switched (always connected, as long as the user’s handset is reached by the i-mode radio signal). In Japan, WAP implementations use packet switching too. i-mode includes images, animated images and color. WAP implementations in Europe at the moment use only text but no images. There are major differences in the business models, charging systems and marketing of different WAP implementations and i-mode: Marketing: WAP in Europe is aimed at businesses, while i-mode is mainly marketed to ordinary consumers i-mode handsets in Japan have large, full-colour (256 colours) displays and can display animated full-colour gifs and ten lines of text or more. However, European implementations of WAP today have handsets showing four lines of text in black and white, without images. Note that this is not a limitation of the WAP protocol itself (as Japanese WAP
